Of Course
by Insidiae
Summary: Tamaki always keeps his promises, and Kyouya only has one to make. A look at the past, present, and far into the future. Oneshot. TamakixHaruhi, onesided KyouyaxTamaki. Kyouyacentric. UFO Best of Fandom OHSHC 1st prize and Member's Choice winner.


Well, before I wasn't sure whether or not to venture further into this fandom, but I got such a fabulous response from everyone, how could I not? Thank you all so, so much for reading. And for thinking me good enough to ask me to write more.

Well, I do hope I don't disappoint. That being said, I hope you all enjoy this, even though it's ridiculously long. I'm sorry about the length! I'll try to shorten it next time!

Thank you all, again!

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya first meets Suoh Tamaki, he's in the ninth grade.

He doesn't really have a choice in the matter. If he did, he wouldn't touch the eccentric blond with a ten-foot pole. However, Suoh offers something very valuable to Kyouya. The French boy is the metaphorical whiteout needed to remove the Kyouya-sized stain from the perfect canvas that is the Ootori family.

So, on orders from his father, Ootori Kyouya "befriends" - though he uses that term loosely -Suoh Tamaki.

He's really a ridiculous boy,Suoh is. He makes himself out to be so charming and princely, but it's so fake that it makes Kyouya want to gag. He can feel cavities forming in his mouth just from hearing the saccharine words that make all the girls melt into goo, and Kyouya muses that these children really haven't inherited any of the intelligence that made their parents rich and/or famous if they're too thick to see that Suoh is just pretending to humor them.

Well, they make a good match - Suoh and the girls, that is. The outlandish blond isn't exactly the brightest bulb himself, after all. Gods, doesn't he know _anything_ about Japan? His fascination with sitting on the floor with a kotatsu as part of quintessential Japanese culture is both disconcerting and ignorant. The boy's mannerisms and misguided beliefs about country lead Kyouya to only one conclusion: Suoh is, pure and simple, an otaku. The Japan-obsessed foreigners are not appealing to Kyouya.

Really, really not appealing.

Grin and bear it, Kyouya thinks. Anything is worth wiping your ugly smear from the family canvas, even being friends with this idiot.

Anything is worth it.

Anything.

Everything.

_Everything is for the family._

And then Suoh says something that catches Kyouya completely off-guard. Swinging an arm around his shoulders, Suoh announces that after knowing each other _for one day_, he and Kyouya are now best friends, and even though the bespectacled boy tries to protest, from that moment on, Kyouya is Kyouya and Suoh is Tamaki and fourteen years' teaching of manners and respect from the Ootori family is thrown out the window.

Suddenly, Ootori Kyouya, for the first time, feels like he's bitten off more than he can chew.

As time goes on, Kyouya becomes more and more convinced that Tamaki is a moron. As it turns out, the blond knows _nothing_ about Japan - not where things are, what people eat, what people _do_ - nothing. He asks stupid questions and doesn't realize when he gets stupid answers. Oh! And he asks for the impossible and acts like a kicked puppy when he doesn't get it. The boy is unbelievable!

Fuyumi doesn't help the situation. Oh, sure, she pretends to be sympathetic, but it's clear that she thinks the whole thing's hilarious. The nerve! And to think, she is one of the few people that Kyouya actually likes. Well, hmph, see if he does his sister any favors in the future. Family support his ass.

_Everything is for the family._

Of course it is. Kyouya has to do everything for the family, because the family owns everything that he holds dear. The Ootori family owns Kyouya's childhood, his future, his soul, he life. They own the house that he and Tamaki are sitting in right now, and the free will that would have Kyouya kicking the blond out of said house in any other situation.

Gah, Tamaki. In his own house now. Stupid, oblivious, ignorant Tamaki who doesn't get anything. He'd never understand Kyouya's situation. He would never understand, so why does he keep on trying? Why does he keep asking questions?

No! No, Kyouya is not his family's heir! No, he gets nothing! Kyouya is the smudge that gets erased, you stupid, stupid, ridiculous fool! And it doesn't matter how greedy or ambitious or smart Kyouya is, he will never, ever, _ever_ get anything from the Ootori family because he was born last and that''s just the way it works, so what's the point in even trying?

And, like Kyouya suspected, Tamaki just doesn't get it. The idiot and his carefree ways, thinking that everything will be just fine even if he doesn't inherit his family fortune. What an ungrateful, brat! Tamaki has oppurtunity staring him dead in the face, and he won't even reach for it. Kyouya is tired of this. He's tired of Tamaki, and his naive, misinformed ideals. The Suoh boy gave up a life that Kyouya can only dream about, and it's too much.

Tamaki has some nerve, too, telling Kyouya that _he's _the one who's given up. Oh, as if! Just because Kyouya is reasonable doesn't mean he doesn't have hopes and dreams. And just because Kyouya knows that those hopes and dreams are impossible to reach and that there's no point in trying to reach them doesn't mean... he's... given...

Oh _gods_, he has given up. Is there any point in trying? Would he achieve anything even if he did try? Has his family really left him with so few options?

_Everything is for the family._

Stunned, Kyouya looks at Tamaki, clutching his shirt collar tightly in his fist and probably choking the poor boy with the table overturned to the side. His eyes widen when he realizes that he just poured his life story out to this imbecile. Holy hell, what was he thinking? Kyouya never acts like that. He's cool. Calm. Collected.

Regretting the last five minutes of his life.

His sister told him once that he'd be able to open himself up as soon as he found someone that he really, truly cared about. The idea seems ludicrous, but when he looks back at Tamaki, he does so with a new light in his eyes.

He's right.

Perhaps Suoh Tamaki is not as stupid as he thought.

As time goes on, Kyouya finds himself less and less repulsed with idea of being Tamaki's best friend. As more time goes on, he even finds himself liking the idea. The blond, contrary to Kyouya's first beliefs, is actually completely sincere in everything he does. He has passion and compassion and his ridiculous plots and plans are a never-ending source of amusement.

However, one day Tamaki has his most ridiculous idea yet. He wants to make a club.

What, Kyouya asks, just the two of them?

No, Tamaki explains that he wants to have lots of people. After all, as stunningly handsome as both he and Kyouya are, Tamaki wants a host club, and that involves a lot of people.

Kyouya asks if he's out of his mind.

No, Tamaki explains, he's not. He wants lots of people. He wants lots of people, because he wants the club to be kind of like a family.

Kyouya's eyes widen, the word hitting him harder than he expected.

A family? he asks.

_Everything is for the family._

They're going to make this thing into a family? A family that cares and loves and is free?

A family?

And Tamaki turns to him, and, with a great big smile on his face, says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya meets Fujioka Haruhi for the first time, he is in the eleventh grade.

She breaks a vase. Oops. Big crash. Big price tag. Big mistake, as she finds out after being enlisted (read: enslaved) into the Host Club. She's hardly the most popular host (though, as a cross-dresser, that's hardly surprising), but she gets enough customers and makes up for the rest. She's such a good girl, really, so gracious and kind and wise at same time as being completely oblivious.

She's an enigma, too, though Kyouya reasons that she's probably not even aware of it. This is also not surprising, as Haruhi is hardly the kind of person that brings the word "mysterious" to mind at first glance. Nonetheless, she is an enigma and a force, and she is changing everyone that she comes in contact with, one at a time.

It's most obvious with Tamaki. He loves her. Kyouya knows that Tamaki loves her, even before Tamaki himself does. Hikaru shows some interest too, but Kyouya knows that his affection for the girl is a mere childish crush in comparison to Tamaki's full blown adoration for her.

Yes, Kyouya knows that Tamaki is in love, and he knows it first. And when he goes home a couple months later, after the fiasco at Halloween, after a Christmas catastrophe, after Eclair Tonnerre, he lies in his bed staring at his ceiling and wonders why his heart is hurting so much.

Tamaki is in love.

_He's in love._

A year later, he's still in love, and Haruhi is returning his feelings. Luckily, the thick idiot was smart enough to figure out that it wasn't fatherly feelings he has for her. The twins look at the relationship skeptically - they don't if anyone, even Haruhi, can really stand to be with Tamaki for long - but Kyouya knows better than to doubt. He's known Tamaki long enough to know that if Tamaki wants something hard enough, he gets it, and then cherishes it forever and ever. Despite his background, Tamaki is a pack rat and delights in collecting the oddest things. His collection of instant coffee at this point is both quite impressive and just a little bit creepy.

In any case, Kyouya has never known Tamaki to tire of anything he truly enjoys, nor to give up on anything he really wants. Poor Haruhi has no choice but to love him back because he'd just follow her to the end of the earth until she did. Luckily, the girl seems to have quite enough affection for the club president, so Kyouya doesn't have anything to worry about.

_He's in love._

Well, actually, he does have a couple things to worry about. He worries about the way that every time Haruhi has looked at him recently, her eyes seem to be saying She's sorry, she's sorry, she's so, so sorry. It's rather disconcerting, since, as far as Kyouya can tell, she has nothing to apologize for.

He also worries about the persistent pain in his heart. It's quite odd; The Ootori family has no history of heart disease and the top Japanese cardiologist says it's in perfect condition. Still, every so often, it feels as though someone has the pulsing muscle in a fist and is squeezing the life out of it.

A year later, when Kyouya and Tamaki have graduated, the blond is still in love and still in contact with Kyouya, who, still in Japan, is a continent away from Tamaki, who returned to France despite his grandmother's wishes (he still hasn't seen his mother, however, because that would be, essentially, killing her, which Tamaki just couldn't take). The Suoh heir still visits Haruhi and Kyouya every weekend, flying direct express on the family jet. The Host Club family may have disbanded, but Tamaki is determined to make sure that no leaves fall off of the family tree.

One weekend, while he and Kyouya chat over green tea, Tamaki says that he's going to propose to Haruhi, and suddenly the pain in Kyouya's heart is so bad that he collapses onto the tabletop, grimacing and clutching at his chest. Alarmed, Tamaki stands and rushes over to him to see if he's alright, but Kyouya doesn't hear anything he says. He doesn't hear anything except for the sound of his own ragged breathing and painful, racing heartbeat.

Because Kyouya, he finally understands.

_He's in love._

Oh, Tamaki. Tamaki is still making a fuss over him, so Kyouya waves him off with one hand and coughs into the other. He assures Tamaki that he's fine and tells him to sit back down and drink before the tea gets cold. Bringing his own cup to his lips, he takes a big drink, before setting it back down and smiling at Tamaki.

He's going to propose? Kyouya asks. That's great.

Tamaki grins and lunges across to the table to hug Kyouya.

He's sure she'll say, Kyouya says, because he is. Kyouya is sure Haruhi will say yes, because she's in love, just like Tamaki.

_He's in love._

Tamaki is thanking him for giving them him his blessing while sobbing into his shoulder. Kyouya just sits there with Tamaki on his lap, rubbing his back as his best friend smiles though all his tears, because he's so, so happy.

So Kyouya asks him, Can he be the best man?

And Tamaki turns to him, and, with tears dripping down his ridiculously giddy face, says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya first works with Suoh Yuzuru, he is a junior in college.

It's a situation that, considering the family rivalry, Kyouya never saw himself in. Yet, sure as day, here he stands in the Hitachiin Boutique looking through wedding dresses with the groom-to-be's father.

The twins are creating quite the raucous, unable to keep serious even in this most-serious of occasions, and despite their age. Kyouya can't quite blame them - the situation is beyond bizarre. He hasn't seen Kaoru or Hikaru in about two years, and to suddenly show up at their mother's store asking for a wedding dress with Tamaki's father is too good an opportunity for Kyouya to think they'd let up.

Yuzuha huffs and tries to shoo her sons away as she shifts through layers and layers of white fabric, but it's too no avail. The twins continue to either look over her shoulder in an incredibly obnoxious manner or poke and pry Kyouya for information. Eventually, the fashion designer gets ticked off with her children's behavior and screeches at them to stay out of the way while she's working because they can catch up with one another later, shattering a couple of windows and one or two eardrums in the process. Looking completely unaffected, Hikaru and Kaoru each raise a hand in unison to salute their mother before taking their leave, mischievous grins still stretched over their lips.

Kyouya doesn't fare as well. It takes a couple minutes for his hearing to return to him, and even then, everything seems kind of muffled. Honestly. He knew that Hitachiin women had a history of being bold and outgoing, but this is something else.

Yuzuru seems to have come out even worse. His face is completely drained of any and all color. The woman's seems to have terrified the poor man, and Kyouya muses that this is probably not what Tamaki's mother is like. No, if his son is anything to go by, Yuzuru's mistress is probably pretty close to Haruhi, in which case...

_He never stood a chance._

A loud shout snaps Kyouya out of his daze, and he looks to the right to see the twins returning. Apparently, they were only humoring their mother when they left not three minutes ago. He'd pity her, except Kyouya is plenty sure that Yuzuha is quite capable off dishing out punishment to her sons when the situation calls for it, so he doesn't dwell on it.

He does, however, carefully watch the twitch developing in her eye.

Hikaru and Kaoru ignore her obvious annoyance and go back to prodding Kyouya for information, such as what he's doing in their family's shop asking for a wedding dress with Suoh Yuzuru of all people.

It's a good question. What the hell is Kyouya doing there, anyway? Oh, yes, that's right. It's a wedding, he tells the twins. Tamaki and Haruhi. They'll get the invitation in a few weeks.

Kyouya notices how Hikaru flinches when he mentions Haruhi, and he almost feels sorry for the boy. He knows he had feelings for the girl, but ultimately, he was going against Tamaki. It's obvious that Tamaki was the better choice - he cares more, he loves more, he's more sincere and selfless than Hikaru ever was. With all the things that were going for him, it's clear why Haruhi chose him over Hikaru.

_He never stood a chance._

So, the twins says, what is he doing there?

Kyouya tells them that he's the best man, and Tamaki and Haruhi are currently preoccupied with taking care of the honeymoon details, so Tamaki sent him and his father to get a dress. Apparently, both Tamaki and Haruhi trust enough in Kyouya's judgment and Hitachiin Yuzuha's dressmaking abilities to believe that whatever dress he chooses will be fine.

The twins snort as one - psshhh, like Kyouya or Yuzuru have any fashion sense. Task in hand, the two brothers set off to help their mother dig through the piles of clothing. A few minutes later, each member of the family emerges with what they believe to be the perfect dress in hand.

Kyouya looks between the three dresses, deep in thought. Each of them is gorgeous, and would be satisfactory and then some. The Hitachiin mother has quite the talent with fashion design, but the dress that Kaoru holds really catches his eye.

The white fabric is pulled from the back to come together in a twist in the front right beneath the breast, forming the end of the neck. The low v-cut neckline is lined with beads that continue onto the straps on back, which are pulled to the side to reveal a keyhole cutout.

Kyouya smiles. Haruhi will look beautiful in it. She'll be gorgeous, and Tamaki will fall head over heels for her all over again.

_He never stood a chance_.

The boy shows it to father-in-law-to-be, who nods in appreciation. Nodding back, Kyouya whips out his cell phone and holds down the 2. Tamaki is the first person he has on speed-dial, right after his voicemail. After four rings, Tamaki finally picks up, greeting Kyouya with the airy tone of voice that comes with being in love.

He's chosen a dress, Kyouya says.

Tamaki coos and gibbers happily, telling him to get it.

Doesn't he want him to describe it first? Kyouya asks.

Tamaki just babbles on some more until Kyouya hears a resounding "smack" and Haruhi's voice in the background telling him to calm down. Of course, he doesn't, but it was still a good effort on her part. However, Tamaki is still chattering on and telling Kyouya to buy it, buy it, buy it.

Kyouya says, He trusts him that much with such an important detail of his wedding?

There's a pause, and then Tamaki, voice full of laughter because it was, to him, such a silly idea to even mention, says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya feels like he's made a good decision all on his own for the first time, he is a senior in college.

The feeling comes as he watches Haruhi walk down the aisle in the dress he chose for her, a look of concentration set in her features as she struggles to not trip over the the trailing length of her gown in her heels. Ranga, who compromised by wearing a man's suit with strappy high-heeled stilettos, leads her, completely in his element with his shoes unlike his daughter.

Yes, Kyouya feels as though he made a very good decision. Haruhi's hair, now cut just above her shoulders, is pulled back into multiple braids which meld together into a single ponytail, revealing her long neck which is the focus of her dress. The chiffon twists so that no false curves are made, but that the natural ones that Haruhi already has - however small - are more noticeable. It is all together a lovely image, and Kyouya has to jab Tamaki in his gut with an elbow to stop the boy from salivating over his bride.

He can't really blame him, though. Haruhi, her dress, her shoes, her hair, even her father...

_Together, they're perfect._

The ceremony goes by in a flash. It seems like only minutes until they're sharing vows and Tamaki is kissing the bride, and then there's the loud cheering and it's off to the celebration. Hundreds of guests file into fancy stretch limos, led by Tamaki, Haruhi, Kyouya and Renge (who served as bridesmaid by choice of Haruhi) up front, with Ranga and Yuzuru right behind them, and Hunny, Mori, and the twins after them.

The limos pull up to a modern night club, built from chrome and black glass. Inside, a techno beat is already pulsing, and it takes about two seconds after the guests get out the cars for everyone to hit the floor dancing. Kyouya, who, let's face it, never really was much of a dancer outside of the waltz and the basic tango, stays to the side by the bar and the four-tier cake. Gosh, the drinks are going down easy tonight, but it's all good.

He casts a sidelong glance to the cake, topped with little bride and groom statues. Their plastic smiles shine, their entire expressions glowing with looks of love. They're not very attractive, in fact, on their own, they'd just be ugly little dolls, but together, on the top of that cake, they look beautiful.

_Together, they're perfect._

In the center of the room. Haruhi dances barefoot with her new husband, glad to be out of the painful shoes. Tamaki hugs her tight to his body and kisses her head, swaying in tempo with the music.

Kyouya downs another glass.

He's not unhappy, he muses as he watches the happy couple. It's just a lot happening in a short period of time. They're both so young. Perhaps this wedding was too rash?

No, no, one look at the bride and groom's smiling faces assures Kyouya that this is right. No, the marriage will probably not be problem-free, but together, Tamaki and Haruhi will be able to overcome any problems. Together, they're invincible.

_Together, they're perfect._

Eventually, the music dies down and food is served. Toasts are proposed, speeches are made, and then Tamaki and Haruhi take their place at the head table, Renge on Haruhi's right and Kyouya on Tamaki's left. Tamaki blocks the girl from Kyouya's view, but a guest offering congratulations pulls the groom from the table, leaving the bride in plain sight.

When Kyouya makes eye contact with her, he can see it. He can see her eyes saying She's sorry, she's sorry, she's so, so sorry, she's sorry for taking him, but Kyouya just smiles and shakes his head and tells her it's okay just before Tamaki sits back down.

The newlywed man has a dopey grin on his face. It's easily the happiest moment of his life. Turning to Kyouya, he asks if his best man thinks that the colors, decorations, music and everything else that Tamaki chose are good.

_Together, they're perfect._

Eh, Kyouya says. They're alright.

Tamaki pouts and says something about Kyouya not being supportive.

Kyouya asks, Since when was being supportive in his job description?

Tamaki turns his back on his best friend and mutters something about high school and being the mother of a family, which makes Kyouya breaks out laughing.

So, Kyouya says, Tamaki thinks he makes a bad mother?

Tamaki gapes before launching into a full-blown protest that that's not what he meant, but Kyouya cuts him off with another laugh.

Does that mean, Kyouya says, that he still gets to be the godfather of Tamaki's children?

And Tamaki turns to him and, with a hug grin and a light punch to Kyouya's shoulder for leading him on like that, says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya meets Suoh Naoko for the first time, he is in the middle of completing his residency to get his M.D.

As it turns out, Kyouya does end up going into the family business of medicine. However, while his brothers grow into handling the business matters of the Ootori corporation, Kyouya plans to become the leading doctor of his father's company. He hasn't given up yet; there's places to go, things to be done.

_It's time to look to future._

Specializing in infectious diseases, Kyouya stays up late at night staring with dead, fatigued eyes at medical textbooks that weigh more than he does. Because he has essentially become a nocturnal creature, it doesn't even bother him when Tamaki rings him on his cell phone at one in the morning.

Of course, Tamaki is currently on the other side of the world, living it up with his wife in one of the many Suoh homes. This one happens to be in Amsterdam, where the time is currently only six o' clock in the evening. But, honestly, Kyouya is certain that he'd be calling no matter what time it was, because Tamaki has some very, very good news.

Haruhi is pregnant.

The blond continues on to say how Haruhi had been missing her period for the past couple of weeks and then started feeling nauseated in the mornings and it's about this point that Kyouya stops listening because, really, it's just too much information. He knows what he needs to know, and that's all that matters.

He tells Tamaki to stop his babbling because there are other people he needs to call to share the happy news with now that it's been confirmed and he needs to start planning for the baby's arrival, early in its development though it may be.

_It's time to look to look ot the future._

Nine months later, give or take, Kyouya receives another phone call from Tamaki, this time at five a.m. The blond is now in Paris, in a hospital, with a newly born baby girl in his arms, and he tells Kyouya to rush on up to France to see her.

Blinking twice at the voice on the other end of the phone (it's early, and Kyouya isn't fully awake and/or functional yet), the med student eventually grunts before hanging up on his friends, clumsy fingers pressing the speed dial for his family's jet. Grumbling, Kyouya makes arrangements for the journey then ends the call to start packing. Annoying though it is on such short a notice, Kyouya has been preparing for this day for about a month now, always thinking ahead.

_It's time to look to the future._

When he arrives in Paris, a limo is already waiting to rush him to the hospital. Tamaki picks him up at the reception desk of the clinic and drags him over to the maternity ward. Inside a sterile, white room, Haruhi lies on a bed with her child in her arms. Besides Ranga and Yuzuru, who are on either side of the bed, Kyouya is the first person there. The look on the new mother's face as she gazes at her baby is so sweet and sincere, that it almost pains Kyouya to snap her out of it as he clears his throat.

At the sound, Haruhi's head whips up to see the visitor, and she blushes faintly with embarrassment. A few seconds after, however, she notices how haggard Kyouya looks from the combination of his late nights, interrupted rest, and sudden departure from his home country. In her head, she tries to calculate to the time zone difference between Tokyo and Paris and gives up a second later because she knows that whatever time it was in Japan when Tamaki called Kyouya, it was far too early. Cradling her child in one arm, she rises from the bed despite her father's protests that she's in no condition to do so yet, walks over to her husband, and promptly smacks him on the arm. As Tamaki winces from the blow (over dramatic as always), Haruhi turns to Kyouya with an apologetic smile at her husband's lack of manners and common courtesy before offering him the newborn. Kyouya raises his eyebrows in surprise, but takes the infant nonetheless. Carefully shifting to avoid waking the sleeping baby up, the young man unwraps the blanket covering it to figure out it's gender.

A girl.

Such a pretty thing, too. By this point, Tamaki has recovered from his wife's attack to coo over his baby daughter. Haruhi smiles softly, and the whole scene should be so saccharine that it should be making Kyouya throw up, but somehow he's grinning too.

So, Kyouya says, This is his godchild?

Tamaki nods.

What's her name?

Naoko. Suoh Naoko.

And Kyouya looks down at the little girl in his arms and hugs her to his chest. What he now holds is the first of the next generation of the Host Club. Their future.

_It's time to look to the future._

Tamaki? Kyouya asks.

Yes?

He's the first one here, Kyouya says. Are the others coming?

Yes.

What's taking them so long?

They called them later.

So, Kyouya says, Tamaki, will he always call him first, for things like this?

And as Naoko yawns big and opens her sleepy eyes, looks up at Kyouya, and smiles a big, toothless smile, Tamaki smiles with her and says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya mourns for the first time, he's forty-one years old, and a world famous doctor.

He still stays up late, never growing out of his nocturnal habits. It's a good thing, too, since it sometimes feels as though his job requires him to never sleep. While he wears contacts rather than glasses now, his vision is a multitude worse than it was in his childhood from the long days and nights spent hovering over medical texts and research. Black dye hides his graying hair and high-end creams remove his wrinkles, but under all the glitter and shine, Kyouya is aging.

However, even with all the stress that comes with all the surprises and shocks with a career in medicine, Kyouya's life is now one of routine. He knows now to expect the unexpected. Hell, even Tamaki is predictable. This is why, even twenty years after starting med school, Kyouya still remains unsurprised when the blond calls him at obscene hours in the morning.

However, even routine has inconsistencies.

_Nothing lasts forever._

It's when Tamaki calls at 6 p.m. - a normal hour for the first time - with his voice trembling with pure, unadulterated panic that Kyouya feels his heart skip a beat. He can''t even hear what Tamaki is saying through all the blond's hysteria, but he hears the words 'Haruhi' and 'hurry' enough times that he immediately charters a flight and leaves without even packing.

When he once again arrives in Paris, it's incredibly reminiscent of Naoko's birth. Limos pick him up at the airport and rush him over to the hospital, where Tamaki retrieves him at the reception desk and drags him to his wife.

Except this time, nobody's smiling. This time, instead of the maternity ward, they're heading to a white, sterile ICU. As a doctor, it is something Kyouya is quite familiar with.

As a friend, it baffles him.

At the end of one of the countless hallways of the hospital lies their destination. Naoko stands outside the room, forehead and palms pressed against the window, breath fogging up the glass. She has a full head of springy, blonde curls and big, brown eyes. Overall, she much more resembles her mother than her father, the hair color being the only thing of Tamaki's she seems to have inherited. Now a young woman of fourteen years of age, she's become quite the pretty girl (it'd be hard not to considering her parents). Kyouya imagines her with cropped hair dyed brown, and suddenly it's just like when he met Haruhi for the first time.

_Nothing lasts forever_.

The teen hears their approach and turns to meet them. The first thing that Kyouya notices is that she's crying. Sobbing, really, tears trailing angry red streaks down her face. As soon as she sees him, Naoko lets out a wail and lunges at her godfather, wrapping her arms around his waist and sobbing into his stomach. Petting his godchild's hair comfortingly, Kyouya turns his stricken face to Tamaki, who refuses to meet his gaze. Instead, the blond pries his crying daughter's clinging arms from the other man. Nodding silently at Naoko, Tamaki snatches Kyouya's wrist and pull him into the room, but not before grabbing two surgical masks and putting them over each of their faces. After their mouths and nostrils are secured, they head in.

In a sterile, white bed in the middle of the sterile, white room lies Haruhi. Again, Kyouya is reminded of his goddaughter's birth. Except this time, Haruhi is getting up to greet him. This time, she's hooked up to a respirator and doesn't even have the strength to get up.

Muscle weakness.

The muscles in her legs and her back, the muscles that support the sitting position, they're deteriorating. Under her skin, it's just bone. No fat. No muscles. She looks almost like a skeleton with a Haruhi skin stretched over it.

The woman also looks disoriented, and the IV in her arm sending nutrient mixed fluids into her bloodstream along with her startling thin appearance tell Kyouya that she's unable to keep food in her stomach. He mentally adds nausea to his mental checklist.

It looks like a really bad case of influenza, he tells Tamaki, even though he knows it isn't. If it was just influenza, he wouldn't have been called to examine her.

Tamaki tells him, Yeah, that's what all the other doctors thought when they took her in five days ago. But then the physician took X-rays, and found something bad. There's a panic in his voice as he rushes through his words, picking up the X-rays from the bedside table next to his withering wife and stuffing them into Kyouya's awaiting hands. Tamaki doesn't know what any of the medical jargon means, but he knows it sounds bad, and not wanting to know how horrible things were inside Haruhi, he refused to let the hospital doctors explain it to him.

As it turns out, Tamaki was correct. It is bad. Very bad. The blond may not know what he's looking at, but Kyouya recognizes the shapes of kidneys and liver in the two X-rays with ease. Both are covered in dark, unsettling splotches, and a glance at the diagnostic paper attached to the X-ray confirms what Kyouya already knew.

It's necrosis, he says.

First, her muscles were dying. Now it's her organs. The cells are dying off, one at a time.

Tamaki looks at him, horrified. He asks him, Does he know what it is?

Kyouya shakes his head. He has his guesses, but they'll have to run tests. Hasn't the hospital done any yet?

Tamaki shakes his head no. He wouldn't let them. He wouldn't let any of these doctors touch his wife, his Haruhi, until Kyouya came. The doctor shakes his head at his friend's recklessness, but promises to get tests done as quickly as possible. They should be in by the next day.

With that, Kyouya leaves the room, ripping the mask off his face just in time to receive another crushing hug from his distressed goddaughter. He ruffles her hair compassionately, whispering soothing words into her ear. It's cruel of him, he knows, when her mother may be dying to lead her astray as he might be, but all his training as a doctor and an uncle figure force him to say the generic saccharine words anyway.

It'll be okay, he says. It'll all be just fine.

Kyouya hopes he isn't lying.

He untangles himself from Naoko's grasp, and with one last mournful look at the weeping teen, heads towards the elevator. He has work to do. On his way down, he stops at reception to ask if maybe it would be okay for him to use their labs. The receptionist of course says yes, the hospital being both a partner of the Ootori family and honored by the presence of such a notable doctor as Kyouya in their establishment. With a grateful nod, Kyouya continues on his journey to bottom floors of the hospital.

As he enters the lab, Kyouya knows that her DNA and test samples will already be there, ready and waiting for the moment the doctors get the okay to begin testing. He explains his situation to the lab assistance who greets him and directs him to the samples.

A sample of tissue from the kidney to test for West Nile Virus through a standard RT-PCR procedure. Blood cultures for bacterial infections. Cholera, typhoid, malaria, nine different types of influenza, there's a test for all of them, but there's no test for what Kyouya suspects it is.

He does the tests anyway.

The next day, they come back - all negative, like he expected. Still, the evidence is inconclusive, and there is very little he can do for Haruhi except monitor her condition as it steadily grows worse. Her kidneys and liver are wasting away, but there's nothing that he or anyone else can do.

Until she becomes hypovolemic.

The nausea becomes worse, and Haruhi starts going into shock, and by the time her hypovolemia has been diagnosed, she's going in and out of consciousness, barely holding on. Between this and the necrosis, her kidneys are on their last legs.

Hypovolemia, Kyouya explains to a terrified Tamaki, means having too little blood. It's common causes are dehydration, burns, and even drugs like vasodilators used on hypertensive patients. Tamaki protests that Haruhi has none of those.

Kyouya tells him he knows. That's why his suspicions have been confirmed. There are some diseases that cause hypovolemia, but only one that hasn't been ruled out.

Haruhi has ebola.

Death rates for ebola are are between fifty and ninety percent. There is no cure. There are few treatments. She'll either manage to pull through it, or she'll probably be dead by the end of the week. Two new IV's are added to her arm, one for pumping plasma back into her for all the blood she's lost, and another with coagulation inhibitor, which should prevent further blood problems.

He's sorry, laments Kyouya, but there's nothing else he can do.

Three days later, Haruhi's kidneys fail. Twelve days after being admitted to the hospital by her boisterous, concerned husband, despite her protests that she was just fine, Fujioka Haruhi passes away.

She was forty years old.

The funeral is held that Wednesday, the closest day to the death as possible considering how unprepared anyone was for it. As the casket made from beautiful Mediterranean Oak wood is lowered into the earth, Tamaki stands to the side clutching Naoko's thin shoulders, Kyouya and Ranga on either side of them. The widower and his daughter watch as Haruhi descends, with wide, unblinking eyes.

They'd cry, but they've already run out of tears.

The dirt is piled on top of the grave, and a Spiritual Leader of Religion Of Your Choice says some words to ensure she rests in peace. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, or some such thing. In the long run, it doesn't even matter. Nothing he can say will bring her back.

The guests paying their respects, the rich members of society that are friends with Tamaki, the lower class common folk who knew Haruhi well, they all step up to the grave to say their farewells. Some of them place flowers on top of the newly turned soil. This, too, is irrelevant.

In a day, those flowers will be wilted and as dead as the woman they were bought for.

_Nothing lasts forever._

Kyouya, Naoko, and Tamaki are the last three to leave. Kyouya meets Tamaki's dead eyes with his own, concerned.

Is he okay? Kyouya asks.

Yes.

Is he sure?

Yes.

Tamaki, Kyouya says. Tamaki, look at him.

_Tamaki!_

What?

Tamaki, Kyouya shouts, He's concerned about him!

He shouldn't be.

Well, he is. Tamaki, Kyouya says, does he promise to call Kyouya whenever something happens? Does he promise to call him whenever he needs help? Whenever something's wrong?

Tamaki turns to him, and, with a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes, says, "Of course."

* * *

When Ootori Kyouya makes a promise for the first time, he is a retired noble prize winner of seventy-four years of age.

His life has had many ups and downs, filled with crowning achievements and complete disasters. He remains, even in his old age, the leading name when it comes to infectious diseases, and find that even though he's officially retired, it seems as though he's working more now than ever, consulting with others over impossible cases that only he can solve. However, even after all these years, there is still one thing that Kyouya can't figure out.

How to reassure a person who's just lost a loved one.

It's so difficult, telling someone that their spouse or parent or child has died, knowing what they will have to go through. It's times like this that make Kyouya think a career in medicine is the worst possible available. It doesn't get easier with time, either. In fact, it gets even worse as he grows older.

Before, he could just feel death in those around him. Now he feels it in himself.

He's old. Not just middle-aged old, but elderly. He walks with a cane and a slightly hunched back, even though he knows his posture is godawful - he simply doesn't have the strength to keep himself completely upright. At this point, no amount of hair dye or aging cream can hide the graying, thinning hair on his head or the wrinkles in his face.

All his friends are old too, and this is what scares Kyouya most. He fears, more than ever, that one of them is going to kick the bucket at any given moment. His anxiety is through the roof, causing insomnia, shakiness, and Grumpy Old Man Complex, which, at his age, are really not good for the soul. Some of his colleagues call him paranoid.

He calls himself prepared.

This is what a life of telling people that the ones they love are going to die has done to him. It only takes one phone call, after all, to be assured that he'll never see one of his dear friends alive again. And eventually, one at a time, those phone calls come. But there's one he doesn't ever expect to come, which makes it even more surprising when it does.

Tamaki.

Hurry, Naoko says through the phone's receiver. Hurry to Paris, because Daddy's dying.

Kyouya doesn't need to be told twice.

It's the same deal: limos at the airport, family at the reception desk (Naoko and her family this time, since Tamaki is obviously unavailable: a husband, a son, and a little girl, Naoko has a family of her own now), patient in a white, sterile room. When he walks - hobbles, now he has a cane, so he hobbles - into the room, Tamaki is there, quite conscious, quite together, and smiling. For someone who's dying, the man seems to be in pretty damn good shape.

Kyouya turns back to Naoko with an eyebrow raised, but she just offers him a small smile before ushering her children out of the room, following behind them. Dubious, but still concerned, Kyouya takes a seat next to the bed Tamaki lies on. The Suoh heir immediately grasps his hand in his own wrinkled one, apologizing for not calling him recently (at obscene hours of the morning of course; even now, the tradition lives on), but darling Naoko insisted that he stay in the hospital.

Against his better judgment, Kyouya doesn't even ask why Tamaki is there, so happy just to see that he's alright and that Naoko was apparently lying, though why she would kid about something so serious is beyond him. Still, he's thankful that Tamaki is alive and well, and the two of them spend the visit chatting it up and catching up with one another.

When his visit is over, Kyouya reluctantly stands and leaves the room, assuring Tamaki that he'll visit again soon if the Suoh is still in the hospital in the weeks to come. Once outside, Kyouya spots Naoko waiting patiently by playing with her son and quickly runs over to chastise his goddaughter on her actions. How _could_ she lie about such a thin-!

Naoko cuts him off with a finger against his lips.

Not in front of the children, she says.

She pulls him off to the side, where she leans against the wall with her arms crossed and eyes closed. Kyouya is sure she can feel his stare on her, but she doesn't make any movement.

Finally, so quiet that Kyouya almost thought he had imagined it at first, she says, He broke his hip.

What?

Daddy. He broke his hip.

Oh.

_Oh._

His health has been steadily getting worse, Naoko goes on to explain, for the past five months. Soon he won't be able to function on his own, and breaking his hip was probably the last straw. She sounds disappointed in Kyouya. As though he should have known this. As though, as Tamaki's best friend, he should've been able to tell.

It's true, Kyouya mentally notes, that breaking a hip is hardly fatal, but if it happens when a person is elderly, there's a small chance of them really recovering from it. Not to mention Tamaki's health has been deteriorating recently-

Wait. It has?

Naoko shakes her head in disbelief. How could Kyouya not notice? How steeped in denial _is_ he?

Pretty deep, it appears. As Kyouya returns to his hotel that night, looking over his best friend's medical records from the past half year, he can't believe all the signs he missed. Since when did Tamaki have heart problems? Arthritis? Osteoporosis? Kyouya lies in his bed with his hands clasped together, cursing the gods for not making a cure for old age.

The next day, when Kyouya visits again, he watches carefully for the signs. He can see it so clearly now - the yellowing of his skin, the gnarled bones underneath. Still, on Tamaki's face there is a smile, and it allows Kyouya to forget about everything that's wrong with his best friend for a couple more hours. Once again, as he leaves, he assures Tamaki that he'll visit again soon if he remains in the hospital for much longer.

As it turns out, Tamaki does stay where he is, for quite a long time. At first, it's a couple of weeks. Then the weeks turn into months, and pretty soon half a year has gone by. And each time Kyouya comes to visit, Tamaki looks worse and worse.

Pretty soon, it's at the point where Kyouya knows that Tamaki will die any day now. He flits in and out of consciousness and even when he's awake, it seems as though he's not quite there. His brain is slowly but surely shutting down.

This is the point where Naoko starts looking truly haggard. Dark circles appear under her eyes (she's getting older now, too; forty-six-years old, where has the time gone?) from lack of sleep and the strain of keeping her family together. Tamaki barely recognizes her any more.

Then again, he doesn't recognize much at this point.

In a rare moment of clarity, Tamaki returns to himself and asks to speak with each member of the family privately. It is clear that the hour of his death is upon him, and he wants to say goodbye before he goes. One by one, they all go in to speak with him. The last is Naoko, who comes out of his room sobbing and telling Kyouya to go in between her tears because Tamaki wants to speak to him, too.

Dumbfounded, Kyouya enters the room, patting his goddaughter on her head as he goes. Taking his seat next to the bed, Kyouya turns to the weak form of his best friend. Immediately, Tamaki sends out a wrinkled, old hand to clutch at Kyouya's own.

He's dying, says Tamaki.

Kyouya stares at him, unblinking, and responds, Yes.

It's about time, says Tamaki.

Kyouya tells him he's being stupid. It's far too early for him to die.

No, Tamaki says, it's the right time. It was far too early for Haruhi, but now is the right time for him.

There's a pause, and the two friends sit still together in the silence, holding one another;s hand. Then Tamaki speaks.

Did Kyouya love him?

The question is so randomly startling that Kyouya is taken aback for a moment. As soon as he recovers, however, he smiles softly and rubs his thumb over the back of Tamaki's hand.

Yes, Kyouya says.

Does he still?

Yes.

Tamaki breathes in deep. His breath is raspy and his chest shudders with the effort. The blips coming from the monitor he's hooked up to begin to slow, and Kyouya can almost see each torturous heartbeat as the muscle slowly pulses under his pallid skin.

Another silence.

Will he always?

And more silence.

The heart monitor deadpans. Tamaki, with his eyes closed like he's in a peaceful sleep, he doesn't have a pulse any more. There isn't any air escaping from his mouth or nostrils, and his hand suddenly feels very limp in Kyouya's grasp.

And Kyouya, crying, crying, crying for the first time in years, tightens his grip around the dead man's palm, and sobs, "Of course."

* * *

And that's the depressing conclusion. Not as good as I wanted it to be, really, but it'll have to do. If you made it through this monster, then congratulations! You're a more patient soul than I.

Oh, also, I tried very hard to make the information in this story as accurate as possible, but I'm sure I made a mistake somewhere along the way because I'm so useless at this kind of thing. I'm so, so sorry if did!

As usual, comments and criticisms make the authoress happy in her pantalones.

-Insidiae-


End file.
